Nintendo has been wildly successfully in bringing the casual gamer to the DS and Wii, with titles like Brain Age, Big Brain Academy, Wii Sports, etc. appealing to more than just gamers brought up on Mario and Link. This, in turn, has opened the casual market up to third-parties as well, who in prior generations usually had to wait until the end of hardware lifecycles to release successful casual titles. Thus it’s no surprise that Majesco seized the opportunity to bring one of the most casual games in history, the crossword puzzle, to the Nintendo DS. Add in a smart partnership with The New York Times, and you’ve got perhaps the best third-party casual title on the DS yet.
The concept is not that difficult to grasp: take nearly three years’ worth of puzzles from the New York Times, 1000 in all, and make them available in electronic form. It’s a simple concept, but one that could easily fall apart without solid execution. Fortunately, developer Budcat Creations did a good job of keeping the casual gamer in mind. Simply dragging the stylus across the screen moves the puzzle around, while clues can be cycled through using the shoulder buttons. Tapping a box activates it and displays the appropriate clue on the top screen (double tapping it displays the clue in the opposite direction instead), and the player can then either choose the appropriate letter from a virtual keyboard or write it in manually. The writing recognition is excellent, rarely failing to properly recognize even my scrawl. You’ll probably find a couple of quirks to it based on how you write (it confused my “i” and “l” a bit at first), but I preferred it by far over the hunt and peck virtual keyboard.
Extending the accessibility further, up to four profiles can be saved on one cartridge, each storing preferences, completed puzzles, and up to 3 in-progress puzzles. The game gives you a score on each puzzle based on the time it takes to complete it, the difficulty level (Monday’s are the easiest, Sunday’s the hardest), and the number of hints used. Hints merely fill in the currently chosen block with the correct letter, but forever mark it with a yellow circle that constantly reminds you of your shame. Of course, you can also use it to check up on answers you’ve already completed, with no penalty if you had the proper letter after all. It is a little frustrating that you can’t see an entire puzzle’s worth of hints at once however, like you can in any newspaper or crossword puzzle book. So, having to go through the tedious process of tapping every single square to reveal an answer one block at a time is a little annoying. Of course, this is also a good thing if you’re easily tempted to cheat, but want just a little nudge in the right direction rather than seeing the entire answer at once.
Multiplayer allows up to four players to play either co-op or versus, single-card or multi-card play. In co-op mode, all players can work together to solve a puzzle, which is a nice feature perfect for the tough as nails Sunday puzzles. In vs. mode, all players work on the same puzzle at once, earning a point for each correct letter filled in. When the time limit is up, the player with the most points wins.
Bottom Line:
The New York Times Crosswords is a well-crafted casual title that’s just as adept as Nintendo’s own offerings at training your brain. A lack of graphical flair and a couple of minor design flaws do little to mar what’s otherwise an excellent time waster.
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| 8.1 |
Posted: 2007-06-14 17:32:25 PST